


candid

by ameriboo



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Crushes, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, One Shot, Pining, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28024422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ameriboo/pseuds/ameriboo
Summary: Rotom Dex was just trying to share valuable data with Ash but the boy is too damn distracted.
Relationships: Kasumi | Misty & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Kasumi | Misty/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Kukui-hakase | Professor Kukui & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Rotom Dexter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	candid

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i don't own anything! love pokemon. 
> 
> things come and go but pokeshipping? pokeshipping is forever.

Ash always had trouble with technology. Science? He adored it. But working with technology didn't always go his way. His mother didn't trust him to set the electric kettle on. He barely knows how to set on a time. He accidentally gave Clemont's laptop a virus after trying to download an old clip of a Lance vs. Agatha battle from Lance's early career. He has been under the scorn of multiple Nurse Joys upset with how he slammed his hand over staticky videophones in many pokémon centers. The only solid piece of technology Ash could rely on was his pokédex. Bless each dex for functioning despite Ash consistently dropping them, multiple cracks in the screen, and water damage.

Rotom Pokédex, out of all of them, Ash had a complex relationship with. A ghost-type inhabiting the shell of a device earning a physical form and the ability to speak human language. Ash never thought he'd live to see the day. Rotom Dex never ceased to amaze him with all its functions like obtaining statistical data or the ability to update itself. Rotom Dex was independent, capable, and above all, a friend.

"Zzzzttt! Today was a great success, Ash!!"

A loud friend but a friend.

Ash yawned loudly, stretching his arms over his head as he kicked his slippers off his feet. "Piiiiikaaaa," Pikachu yawned out just as loud, stretching out his tail and paws. Ash slipped into his makeshift couch-bed comfortably, fluffing his blanket as Pikachu hopped and settled on top of his trainer.

"Oh yeah?" Ash said with a grin, shimming down into his sweet spot and scratching behind Pikachu's ear. "It was pretty cool to see the observatory again! Soph was really in his element."

"Agreed! Would you care to see the snapshots I gathered for today? Ash? Pikachu?"

Rotom Dex flashed a cheerful emoticon and zipped close to Ash's face. "Look! It's marvelous!"

Ash blinked at the bright screen. As tired as he was, there was no reason not to indulge in Rotom's excitement for a bit. Bending his arms to go behind his head, Ash perched forward to watch as Rotom displayed his images from the Mount Hokulani Observatory.

Pictures of some working charjabug, the research portion of the observatory, and plenty of group shots of him and all his friends flashed before him in an excitable hurry.

"Ya know, I can barely keep up…"

"Apologies! Here—!"

The rapid slide show stops right at a video of waves crashing against the rocky stadium platform. With iridescent cerulean blue scales shining, Gyarados rips through the water. His jaws unhinged and wide, roaring as it dominated the screen with its mass. The camera shoots towards Pikachu, each strand of fur on his lithe yellow body up in preparation. Rocks breaking under sheer impact from Gyarados crashing from one of Pikachu's quick attacks causing the water to ripple from sheer impact. 

Ash lifted himself, craning his neck to watch Pikachu dive into the water on screen. He remembered the brininess of the air, how pure crisp energy circulated them. Heart pounding from the aftermath of watching Kiawe and Brock duke it out, Ash clenched his eyes and hands in pure excitement. His friends, two regions colliding, all coming together to experience the essence of battling in a way he was most familiar with. A city gym, and a water-type battlefield, home to a girl he knew since the day he caught his first pokémon.

A no holds barred battle.

_"—But with…"_

Rotom Dex's video transitions to an image of Ash adjusting his cap and signaling Pikachu. "The data collected that day will forever be stored! Type advantages are valuable but are not definitive. Both of your battling styles left so many outliers, Ash!"

The scene shifted from some aerial shots of Pikachu and Gyarados to an image of him to a flash of unmistakable tangerine hair. Sea glass eyes sparkled mischievously on camera, the leader slicing her hand through the air like a warrior signaling charge. 

"Misty…" he whispered, blinking at the bright scene. 

Twirling like a starmie, Misty activated her mega stone and shined under bright lights as her partner mega evolved into an even fiercer beast. Unable to conceal any energy, Ash went buck wild trying to counter Misty's mission to shut down any volts of electric attacks heading towards Gyarados. Was it a little much to use Pikachu against Gyarados with a double weakness? Maybe. Was Ash above that? No.

Days have passed since his last time in Kanto, but his memory of their battle is fresh and saturated in his mind. Not only the image of water and electricity forming a storm but how he caught every look Misty sent his way, the curve of her smiles, and the confidence she exuded. Blood pumping through him, hot and rapid, as he anticipated the new things she hid beneath that bubbly laughter. All the new things Ash wanted to show her. Ash almost tripped on the bleachers with how fast he climbed down. The boy wouldn't tell a soul, but out of everything, Ash was eager to prove to her that his growth as a trainer was real. He became far more than just the kid who could barely throw a pokéball. Ash wanted to show her all that he had become, desperately.

And then it's him, and it's her, and they're facing each other, naturally ready to head on to a fight, but instead of teasing words or light smacks, it was a pure battle. Her battlefield became theirs for just a moment. And for a moment, it was only them. Ash and Misty had their limbs tremoring and chest heaving, as they owned the field and made it their world that only they could set on fire.

Back then, Ash thought he could've stayed there, the two of them battling each other, forever.

Rotom Dex, on the other hand, doesn't understand the concept of forever or why Ash kept staring at the one scene way longer than he needed to while wearing that dopey grin planted on his face.

A small siren blasts a distracted Ash. A frazzled Ash and now awake Pikachu jolted up, frowning. Tiny red cheek pouches puffed out in a pout. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Pika chuuuuuu…"

"Ash! Do you not want to continue with more data?"

"No, not really." He frowned and twisted his head away, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Distracted, are we?" Rotom chirped, the tone teasing as it hovered over Ash's face and set the screen to pause at a high definition of Misty smiling prettily into the camera holding a peace sign.

"Pikachu pi!"

The next photo was of them sitting next to each other at dinner happily enjoying some ramen. Then one of Misty and Pikachu hugging each other tightly and after that a candid shot of her poking his forehead. 

The photographs of her brought color to his cheeks and gave the boy's heart an old tug. Blushing madly, the trainer yelped and flung himself off the couch onto the hard floor, a blanket on top of him. After struggling with the blanket for a few seconds, he finally whipped it around then towards Rotom.

"Missed me!" The cheeky bastard.

Ash shook a fist and barred his canines. "What was _that_ all about?!"

Rotom beeped and spun with glee. "Your reactions are interesting! I must update these to my Ash personality analysis database

Ash stared blankly. "Your what now?"

"For example, I am amused to find your ears turn red as a result of being flustered.

Ash bit back a growl. "That's it—!"

Pikachu jumped out of the crossfire of Ash's incoming charge. Before Ash could get his hands on Rotom's fast floating demon body, the chase was interrupted by the sound of footsteps climbing up the stairs.

"Woah! What's going on?"

"Professor Kukui!" Rotom cried out, zipping towards the sleep-deprived man in his robe and slippers. "I have some surprising discoveries about our Ash."

Kukui blinked. "Is this about your Ash database again?"

The trainer's jaw dropped. "You _knew_!"

The professor sighed, scratching the back of his head. It was too late for this. "Rotom means well," he reasoned with a smile. He noticed the younger boy's embarrassment and decided to take a seat on the ground, leveling with him. Pikachu hopped and curled into Kukui's lap, tired of all the chaos. "Now, what's really happening?"

Ash fell to the ground in defeat, head hanging downward. His ears very much red, and his stomach twisting as he questioned why he felt the need to be embarrassed anyway over some clips and photographs.

It was just Misty. 

Palms sweaty, the increasing pitter-patter of Ash's heart rivals his instinct to shout a goodnight, fling the blanket over him and hide his burning face, havened in his denial. Sleep a recipe for the relentless thoughts of just Misty and her sweetheart face, that teasing voice, and firecracker nature lively in both love and hate.

Holding his breath, Ash contemplated with the thought that something new, something terrifying, might be happening.

"Prof. Kukui," he began, looking up with a nervous expression and dark as the night eyes shining with discovery, "you ever…liked someone before?"

Kukui couldn't help but let out a sincere but amused laugh.

"Ash, you were at my wedding!"

. . .

"...Rotom?"

"Yes?"

"Are you able to print any of those photos? Just asking out of curiosity." 

"Of course, Ash."

**Author's Note:**

> love to all of you!!! please share your thoughts!!


End file.
